Our analysis of TCGA_GC database revealed that the mRNA levels of MUC1 (P = 0.019), MUC12 (P < 0.001), MUC13 (P < 0.001), MUC16 (P < 0.001), and MUC17 (P = 0.004) were more highly expressed in GC tissues compared to normal tissues (Fig. 1a and Additional file 1: Figure S1). Here, MUC1 is linked to gastric cancer.